A New Face

Posted on Tue Jan 3rd, 2012 @ 9:51pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sophie Blaise & Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: Old Relics
Location: Endeavour - Captain's office
Timeline: During the rendezvous with the Antarctic (BackPost)

"Welcome on the Endeavour, Miss Blaise," the transporter chief said after the Petty Officer materialized.

"Thank you Sir," replied Sophie. "It's good to finally be here."

The man nodded again and checked a padd. "Yeoman, right. Your belongings will be taken care of, so I suggest you visit the Captain first. It would have been more convenient if they had transferred you first."

The young woman laughed, "I know, but there was a last moment change on one of the other ships, so there was some discussion if they should transfer me to that ship. Yet they decided to keep me on the Endeavour after all, so here I am." She stepped off the transporter platform and headed towards the doors. "Thanks for the transport Sir."

After that Sophie tried to make her way to the Captain's office. The ship was a lot bigger than what she was used to, so she had to ask the computer for directions a couple of times. She didn't mind though, she would learn eventually and it gave her the opportunity to see some of the crewmembers in action and wonder what her new Commanding Officer would be like. She hadn't heard anything negative about him yet and she assumed he would be a nice man anyway. Even if he wasn't she would find a way to work with him. Her last CO had been Vulcan and that also worked out in the end.

In a good mood and with a smile on her face she finally found the office and rang the chime.

"Come!" the captain called from inside. He was already starting to get bored with all of this annoying tradition of having the captain welcome aboard and brief new crewmembers; or at least those of a recognized-enough station to warrant a meeting with the Captain. Thankfully, that wasn't the entire crew, though it seemed to be most of the officers that were coming aboard. Who knew that life in command of a battle-ready, highly-powered and sophisticated starship crewed with hundreds of souls from all over the Federation could be so tedious?

When he recognised the small silver-grey plate on the neck of the woman who walked in, his mind instantly associated the pattern on it to the appropriate rank. "Come in, Petty Officer. I haven't seen your face around before, so I am assuming you're one of the new crew members?" A lot of the petty officers aboard - at least the command-red ones - he had at least gotten to know the faces of, as many of them were in administration duties aboard, which in all honesty took up most of his own time in the working day. The fact that the petty officer had come to see him upon arriving meant that she was of a station sufficiently more than an inventory clerk; that is, unless she had some bad news to impart.

"That's the right assumption Sir," Sophie replied, still smiling and studying the man in front of her. It was good to know that he recognized his crew, she hoped it meant he cared about them. "I'm Sophie Blaise, I'm your new yeoman," she explained. She didn't assume he would recognize her name immediately with all the different transfers and new arrivals going on. It didn't matter to her anyway, they would probably get to know each other soon enough. "I'm also the last transfer, so I guess things should continue in their normal pace from now on. Until a new batch arrives, of course."

"On this ship, that'll probably be next week," the captain commented dryly, as he moved around his desk into the centre of the room. "Yes, I recognise you now. I must admit Petty Officer, I've never had a yeoman before. Something about having a PA has always seemed a bit too distant. After two years on the Endeavour though, I've learnt that a ship as large as this one that gets into as much trouble as we seem to produces twice its weight in paperwork."

"I'm here to make your life a bit easier Sir," Sophie said, "not to create a distance or add to any worries. She gave the captain a comforting smile. "It'll probably take both of us some time to get used to each other, but I'm sure we'll be fine." She laughed softly, "you're right though, this ship looks huge. It's a lot bigger than where I came from," she confessed, but kept her smile. The workload and pressure on the Lamarck had never been high, so she was excited to have a new challenge.

"Nova? Intrepid?" Benjamin was curious as to which class the yeoman had come from; he thought he recalled from her service record that she had only served on one previous to the Endeavour, especially since his previous commands were each incrementally smaller; his first command being a Defiant class, and the second a Nova.

"Nova indeed," Sophie nodded, "a science vessel, the USS Lamarck." She looked out of the window for a moment, her old ship seemed so far away now. "I've worked with Captain Barlow there and after she retired I worked with Commander T'Ral. Do you know them?" Starfleet had a lot of Commanding Officers, so it probably was impossible to know them all, but on the other hand they also ran into a lot of different people on their missions.

"Eva Barlow?!" the Captain asked, instantly recognising the name. "I met her during a refit of the New York in '78. I had asked her to transfer a few engineering and operations personnel over who had working knowledge of the Nova class systems. Good captain, her crew seemed to really respect her."

"They probably did, she was great to work with. She's a very kind and wise woman, I've been very lucky to have the opportunity to work with her." Sophie smiled as she though back of her first days on the Lamarck. Eva had really helped her to find her way on the ship and within Starfleet. She had been her mentor and still was, in a way. "We still write each other, she actually was the one that encouraged me to apply for a position on a bigger ship. I can send her your regards, if you'd like that. She always loves to hear things like that."

"Please do," Benjamin replied, sitting himself on the edge of his desk. "And tell her that I have that bottle of bourbon I owe her if she ever wants to collect." He smiled. The Lamarck captain had given him the bottle as a gift for both a new command and a new baby boy, who he had just learnt was on the way. He coughed to clear his throat a little, as he switched subject back to business. "Until Quartermaster can arrange a suitable office for you, I'll have someone reconfigure the Science I console, starboard and fore on the bridge. I'll have all the relevant access keys that you'll need loaded into it."

"Thank you Sir," Sophie said. "That would be great." An office would be more practical, but she liked being on the bridge. It would easily keep her up to date on current events and also gave her the opportunity to meet the bridge crew and get to know them a bit more. She was a very social person and enjoyed being around people, so for that the bridge was definitely better than an office.

She ran a hand through her hair, getting some escaped strands out of her face. "Commander T'Ral had the habit to start his shift an hour before the alpha shift started, he requested me to do the same, so we could get some things done before the change of shifts. Any similar requests you have, Sir?"

"The Endeavour's Alpha Shift starts at oh-eight-hundred. I'd like you to be on-shift at least half an hour before me, so that you can get everything organised for me before I arrive in the morning."

Sophie nodded, "Very well Sir, seven thirty it is." That gave her an half hour more in the morning than she was used to, but time on space ships felt relative to her. With no real day or night, it wasn't that hard for her to adjust to a different schedule. She smiled at the captain, "So how do you like your coffee?"

"White, two sugars," the man responded, standing and collecting a PADD from his desk as his eyes clocked the time at the wall-mounted chronometer behind the Petty Officer's head. "And make sure to ignore any dietary instructions from my wife," he continued, grinning.

"If you'll excuse me though, I've got a meeting with the XO scheduled in a few minutes, and I'd rather get our business done so that I can see the Antarctic off when we part company."

She returned a grin. "Don't worry Sir, unless I receive specific instructions from your doctor I won't change a thing." Sophie knew better than to get between husband and wife, nor between a captain and his first officer. She looked back at the clock, a day like this seemed to last only minutes. "Okay, unless you have anything to do for me now, I'm going to try to find my quarters." She smiled, the ship was huge, it would probably take her a while.

"Good luck," Byrne responded with a smile, remembering how lost he was the first time he stepped onto a large ship of the line. "If you need any help, call the CoB."

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Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

&

Petty Officer Sophie Blaise
Captain's Yeoman